Living According to the Example of Christ

Paul had a lot to say about human existence and human culture. When Paul looked at human beings of his day, including himself, he saw a paradox. On one hand, human beings generally tried to do the best they could to be good people. But on the other hand, human beings ended up doing terrible things to themselves and to each other. Ironically, people seemed to do the most violence to others and to themselves while believing that they were actually following God's will. Paul himself, as we know, persecuted the early Christians; his persecution was not based in a lack of willpower (i.e. Paul knew that his persecution was wrong but did it anyway), but in a mistaken belief that persecuting Christians was God's will. Paul found himself, and the human race generally, as basically good people trapped within their own ignorance and within cultural systems that seemed to do nothing but perpetuate violence. Paul tells us in Romans 8.6-11, the Epistle Lesson this week from the Revised Common Lectionary, that there is a way out of our sin. The way out is the Spirit of God. Paul juxtaposes Spirit with flesh to describe the difference between being the people we want living in a society that we want (Spirit) with being the people we are living in the society that we live in (flesh). We want to be people who live with peace, joy, gentleness, love, compassion, mercy, and wisdom. The way to go from where we are to where we want to be is through Christ. By repenting and turning to God for forgiveness and seeking the intercession of God's Spirit, we can turn from our own individual and collective violence and live as God's people. Paul has gotten a bad reputation in many circles for being a pessimist when it comes to human nature. But when Romans is read closely, we see that Paul is actually an optimist. For Paul, our present predicament individually and culturally is an anomaly. It is a corruption of what we are and what we are meant to be. In Romans, Paul says that by turning to God, in Christ, our true nature can be restored, and we can be the people that we truly are, which is God's people.